Lawyer Lyubov Sobol arrested near home of FSB operative implicated in poisoning Navalny

Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer who works for Alexey Navalny’s non-profit, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), has been arrested near the home of Konstantin Kudryavtsev — one of the FSB operatives allegedly involved in poisoning Navalny, MBX Media reports. 

Law enforcement officers explained that they “received a complaint from the residents of apartment 38” against Sobol, Mediazona reports. In a live stream on Twitter, Sobol said that this is the unit where Kudryavtsev lives.

According to Mediazona, one other person was also arrested near Kudryavtsev’s home.

Earlier in the day on Monday, December 21, Alexey Navalny shared a video revealing that he had managed to fool one of the federal agents involved in the attempt on his life into detailing the Kremlin’s poisoning operation.

Also today, Lyubov Sobol went to Kudryavtsev’s home and rang the doorbell, though she said he didn’t open the door. According to Sobol, the federal agent hasn’t left his apartment since 7:00 o’clock this morning. Police officers followed Sobol to Kudryavtsev’s home.

Update. Lyubov Sobol said that she was taken to Moscow’s Novokosino district police station and wasn’t allowed to call a lawyer. According to Alexey Navalny, Sobol is now facing criminal charges. Lawyer Vladimir Voronin also told MBX Media that criminal charges are being drawn up against Sobol, adding that since no one has been able to see her, the exact charges remain unknown.

On December 14, Bellingcat, The Insider, CNN, and Der Spiegel published an investigation implicating a special FSB sub-unit in poisoning Alexey Navalny with a Novichok-type nerve agent. Konstantin Kudryavtsev was among the operatives identified in the investigation.

During his annual press conference on December 17, Putin called the journalistic investigation a “legalization of materials from the American intelligences services.” Putin then effectively acknowledged that Russian intelligence officers had been surveilling the opposition figure, saying they “ought to keep an eye” on Navalny. “But this in no way means that it’s necessary to poison him, who needs that?” Putin underscored. “You see, if they’d wanted to [poison him], they would have finished [the job].”

Update. According to OVD-Info, law enforcement officers from the criminal investigation department of the Novokosino district police station have arrested Akim Kerimov and Olga Klyuchnikova — two employees who work for Navalny’s YouTube channel “Navalny Live” — so they can “ask them a couple of questions.”